The scheduled headliner, making an appearance on this ABC countdown celebration for the first time in more than a decade, is Christina Aguilera. Also performing from the New York City block of Times Square: New Kids on the Block.

2018

Dec

NBC'S NEW YEAR'S EVE By David Bianculli

Carson Daly hosts this special, with help from Keith Urban (the special is a split venue between New York and Nashville) and new co-hosts Leslie Jones from Saturday Night Live and Chrissy Teigen from Lip Sync Battle. Along the scheduled performers: Jennifer Lopez (pictured) and, taking the stage just before the end of 2018, Bebe Rexha.

2018

Dec

BATMAN MARATHON By David Bianculli

Beginning exactly at midnight ET – Holy Happy New Year, Batman! – IFC presents a marathon of the entire first season of ABC’s mod, mad, improbably entertaining Batman series, starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader and Burt Ward as his sidekick Robin, the boy wonder. The action begins with “Hi Diddle Riddle” and “Smack in the Middle,” the episodes introducing Frank Gorshin as the Riddler – with Jill St. John as, if my memory is correct, the

2018

Dec

THE 2000S: "THE PLATINUM AGE OF TELEVISION" By David Bianculli

I mentioned yesterday that CNN was ending the year by repeating its most recent TV-centric installments of its ongoing documentary series devoted to each decade since, and starting with, The Sixties. Tonight at 8 ET, CNN repeats the lead-off two-hour episode of The 2000s, with a title it borrowed, with my blessing, from the title of my recent book: “The Platinum Age of Television.” I’m interviewed on camera, briefly, but recommend this program regardless. And since the year 201

2018

Dec

THE MALTESE FALCON & CASABLANCA By David Bianculli

Double features, for film fans, don’t get much better than this. Two of Humphrey Bogart’s most indelible roles, played back to back. The Maltese Falcon, from 1941, starts it off, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, adapted and directed by John Huston, and allowing a great cast of actors to embody some of the mystery author’s most memorable characters: Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet as colorful villains, Mary Astor as the quintessential femme fatale of film noir, and Bogart a

2018

Dec

THE ORVILLE By David Bianculli

Tonight Seth Macfarlane’s fond take on the Star Trek canon returns for Season 2 – which means if it has its own five-year mission, it’s embarking on the second 20 percent of its stated voyage. And this season, I suspect there to be even more embracing of the story, and less of the punch lines.

2018

Dec

RAY DONOVAN By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: Last week, two members of the Donovan family got beaten to a pulp. Tonight, yet another family member is endangered, as Ray’s daughter, Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), is kidnapped by some of the forces aligned against him. That makes Ray angry – and if you’re in his warpath, you’re not likely to like him when he’s angry.

2018

Dec

ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA By David Bianculli

MINISERIES CONCLUSION: I made a mistake last Sunday and said the miniseries was concluding then. It was a major mistake, but I came to it honestly. In terms of the story’s dramatic narrative, the final, post-escape portion should have followed – but instead, Ben Stiller threw an unexpected but inspired curve ball by using that point in the story to flash back to the earlier lives of the three characters who ultimately conspired to pull off the two prisoners’ escape from prison.

2018

Dec

THE TWILIGHT ZONE MARATHON By David Bianculli

An annual tradition that remains one of TV’s finest, here comes Syfy’s ring out the old, bring in the new, Twilight Zone marathon, which this year begins at 10:54 p.m. ET tonight, and doesn’t end until we’re into 2019. Tonight’s episodes are all wonderful, but the best one arrives just before midnight, at the 11:55 p.m. ET showing of 1961’s “Long Distance Call,” starring young Billy Mumy as a kid who has conversations with his grandmother over his

2018

Dec

DAVID HINCKLEY'S TOP 15 SHOWS OF 2018 By David Hinckley

Here’s another good thing about the platinum age of television: More and more programs are no longer one-and-done...

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